Nicolas Cage and Cheese balls.

April 17, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 17 is … National Cheese ball Day

 This should be a day remembered nearer to Christmas. I rarely eat a Cheese ball other than around Christmas. I like Cheese balls but they are always best after warming a bit at room temperature. Now little cocktail smokies/wieners, They need to be a bit warm with the cooking sauce, whatever it is, pulsating all around the little beggars just calling pout “Eat me, Eat Me” If you have eaten a serving of little wieners and don’t have sauce on your shirt or blouse you did not do it right and should start over, going quicker and messier.

I wrote the other day about the air traffic controllers falling asleep at the wheel. Ray LaHood said it has become priority # 1. Well, it happened again, this time early Saturday in Miami. I hope too many incidents of this type happening do not cause the problem to fall from its lofty perch as priority # 1. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt were briefed on the incident early this morning by David Grizzle, acting chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization. Perhaps we should be investigating the air and water supplies running to the places these people are falling asleep. Maybe a Muslim terrorist organization, aren’t they all, is putting something in the air or water causing the sleep in preparation of an attack to commemorate the ten year anniversary of 911 in a few months.

We are all aware of short wars like 3-day, 7-day, and 3-month wars, but have you ever heard of a 335-year war? Today is the anniversary of the day such a war officially ended. In the year 1651, a war began between the Isles of Scilly and the Netherlands. No one seems to know or care what started the war. What seems to be more important is that, although the actual fighting ended in the 17th century, no one had ever officially declared an end to the war until this day in 1986. It was then that the Netherlands ambassador to the Isles of Scilly, Jonkheer Rein Huydecoper, flew to the islands delivering a proclamation that terminated the war.

We’d say that 335 years is a long time to hold a grudge!

On Friday, the Arizona legislature passed a law forcing Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates to prove they are natural born citizens before they can appear on the State’s Presidential ballot. The Arizona Legislature gave final approval late Thursday night to a proposal that would require President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove they are U.S. citizens before their names can appear on the state's ballot. Arizona would become the first state to require such proof if Gov. Jan Brewer signs the measure into law. Republican Rep. Carl Seel of Phoenix, the author of the bill, said the bill wasn't about opposition to Obama. "This bill is about the integrity of our elections," Seel said.

Thirteen other states have considered similar proposals this year. The proposals were defeated in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine and Montana. The bill won final approval from the state House in a 40-16 vote. So-called "birthers" contend since the last presidential election that Obama is ineligible to hold the nation's highest elected office because, they argue, he was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland. The Constitution said a person must be a "natural-born citizen" to be eligible for the presidency. This should end the ‘birther’ debate unless Obama decides not to enter the Arizona election or a liberal Obama backing Judge throws the law out.

How’s that Libyan war going for you Barack? Oh, I forgot, we surrendered to NATO. How’s that NATO assault on Libya going for you, Barack? History should teach you Mr. President, that the countries that make up much of NATO are the same ones we bailed out of WW I and WW II. They do not have this winning a war thing down yet. Watch out for the French or before you know it, the Frogs will be surrendering to the Libyan dictator, Moammar Gadhafi.

Sometimes National Treasure III just cannot come quickly enough. Nick Cage must sure think that way. Nicolas Cage was arrested in Louisiana early Saturday morning, following an altercation with his wife of six years, Alice.

The incident that led to the arrest was a rather public one: According to TMZ sources, the Oscar winner was "very drunk" on a New Orleans street when a taxi driver allegedly witnessed the couple quarreling loudly. The cabbie reportedly called the police when Cage pushed his wife. Cage is said to have taunted cops into taking him into custody, repeatedly refusing their request to quietly go home and asking, "Why don't you just arrest me?" The officers ultimately obliged, charging Cage with disturbing the peace and domestic violence. He remains in custody awaiting a bail hearing; his wife is reportedly denying any physical violence occurred, and expressing no wish to press charges. It may not be much of a gravy train but it is her gravy train. With Alice, the actor is raising a son named Kal-El, born in 2005. Cage, who lost his father in 2009, was previously married to Patricia Arquette and Lisa Marie Presley. Cage has a history of public outbursts, including a blow-up last year (caught on tape) on the Romanian set of a movie, and a bar fight in New Orleans last month.

Nobody would dispute that Cage has been battling his fair share of demons recently, including major financial woes. The IRS has alleged for years that he owed millions in income and property tax, while the mother of Cage's firstborn son sued him in 2009 for more than $13 million. That same year, Cage filed a $20 million negligence and fraud suit against his business manager, Samuel Levin, who then accused Cage of ignoring his pleas to stop living beyond his means. Levin said in a countersuit that Cage was repeatedly advised to curtail his spending, but instead ended up purchasing yachts, Rolls Royces, a Gulfstream jet and 15 homes. I guess 14 homes were too few homes. He had to have that 15^th home to make life worth living. Now he has 15 homes and a bunk at the New Orleans lockup. I would bet that is a nice, clean, disease free and quiet place to spend a night or two while enjoying the Cajun cuisine.

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaw.com

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops." - Thomas J. Watson

Mr. Watson was a self-made industrialist who started and ran IBM. The computer that just won the Jeopardy contest in February was named Watson, after the IBM founder.

The rich really pay the taxes no matter what liberals tell us.

April 16, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 16 is … National Stress Awareness Day and National Eggs Benedict Day

When is Arnold Benedict day? Yesterday would have worked. All three of the major professional sports teams from Chicago that played, lost. The Blackhawks do not play today but the Bulls do, so that could repeat today.

This is a tragic and an all too common story. It is hard to write about and even harder not to comment on some of the ignorant statements people make under the circumstances. I am not a reporter; I don’t claim to be fair and unbiased. I comment on the news of the day or week. I write down my thoughts.

A woman who had just been involved in a domestic dispute loaded her four children into a minivan before letting one out and driving the rest of them into the Hudson River, killing herself and the three other children, firefighters said. The 10-year-old boy who had been let out of the minivan Tuesday night ran to a nearby fire station and alerted firefighters, Chief Michael Vatter said. The boy told firefighters his mother had driven off a boat ramp in Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, and into the murky water of the river, Vatter said. Inside with her were the boy's siblings: two boys, ages 5 and 2, and an 11-month-old girl. Firefighters and police officers responded with boats. Divers searched for the minivan for about an hour before finding it submerged in 10 feet of water about 25 yards offshore. They used a heavy-duty tow truck to pull it up the boat ramp and onto land. Everyone inside was dead, Vatter said.

The woman lived about six blocks from where she and her children perished, he said. The woman lived in an apartment in a gritty part of this humble river city. Several neighbors on Wednesday recalled her as an attentive mother who balanced care of her children with an outside job. They were shocked by the news.

"She was a very good mom," said Tina Claybourne, who lives nearby. "She took care of her kids. She always was with her kids."

Neighbors said they did not know the woman's name or where she worked. They said the children seemed energetic and happy and would play on the block and ride bikes. "You know kids, they make noise, they play around," said Shantay Means, a downstairs neighbor. The domestic altercation occurred about 10 minutes before the woman drove into the river, said Vatter, who didn't have any more information on it. The concrete ramp was just a few blocks from her apartment. The boat ramp was unguarded by gate or chain. There was no sign that anything tragic had happened save for a single teddy bear left at the end of a dock that runs alongside the boat ramp. Newburgh, which has about 30,000 residents, sits on the western shore of the part of the river that runs south through New York state and eventually splits New York and New Jersey.

A similar incident occurred in 2006, about 20 miles south of Newburgh.

In 2007, Victor Han, of Queens, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to child endangerment. Han admitted he knew he was putting his daughters at risk when he stepped out of the family minivan on Bear Mountain in June 2006, leaving them with their mother, 35-year-old Hejin Han. She then drove the Honda Odyssey off a 300-foot drop, killing herself. The mother was killed but the children somehow survived the plunge.

It's also reminiscent of the case of a South Carolina woman who drowned her young sons in 1994. Susan Smith is serving a life sentence for killing 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex by strapping them into their car seats and driving the car into a pond. Smith originally claimed she was carjacked before the truth came out.

The suicidal mother who loaded her four children into a minivan and drove off a boat ramp into the frigid Hudson River changed her mind as the van sank and cried, "I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake," said her 10-year-old son, who survived by crawling out a window and swimming ashore. The ten-year-old said his mother had held him and the other kids - boys ages 5 and 2 and an 11-month-old girl - as the minivan began sinking.

"She was holding on to all of them and said, 'If I'm going to die, you're all going to die with me,'" sources said. "She said that two or three times."

But as the vehicle sank, the 10-year-old broke free of his mother's grasp and clambered out a window, a police spokesperson said: "While he was doing that, he heard his mother saying, 'I made a mistake, I made a terrible mistake.' And she tried to reverse the car out, but at that time it was too late. He said, 'Mommy, I'm going to go get help,' and she said, 'OK.' And that was the last he heard from his mother."

A quote in this story says “She was a good mom. She took care of her kids.” The woman who made these statements, named above, should have any children she has taken from her. She should be sterilized. The killer of her own children, who this woman thought was a good mom, was 25 years old with a 10-year-old son. Do the math. She was having unprotected, reproductive sex when she was 14 years old. The father would be arrested today. I do not think a woman that kills three of her children should ever be confused with a good mom. I named the woman who made the quote but intentionally did not name the killer or her children.

The following article is by John Hayward and it appeared on Anne Coulter’s web site April 15, 2011.         http://www.humanevents.com

It’s Tax Day, a time when Americans briefly think about how much their government costs, instead of daydreaming about all the wonderful things it promises to do for them. 

Who pays for government?  The Evil Rich provide the lion’s share of the income taxes.  According to the Tax Foundation, the top 5 percent of income earners bring home about 35% of the nation’s income, but pay 59% of federal income tax.  The Super Evil Rich – people who earn over $6 million per year, a new category the IRS has been tracking recently - earn 10% of the income, but pay 18.5% of income taxes.  Meanwhile, the bottom half of earners account for roughly 13% of our national income, but pay only 3% of the federal income tax. 

We are constantly told none of this is “fair,” because the Evil Rich need to pay more than 59% of the income tax.  Liberals never tell us what a truly “fair” percentage would be – they always just complain that the current rates are too low, and persist in the absurd and easily debunked belief that taxing the heck out of rich people can fund their insane government spending.  Perhaps if the Evil Rich paid 70%, which would be double the 35% of national income they take in, we would achieve “fairness?”  You already know the answer to that.

Don’t worry, because even if you’re in the lower half of wage earners, you still pay plenty for government.  For one thing, you might be anticipating a nice tax refund this year.  That’s all money you loaned the government interest-free.  This is not just sour grapes, for you could have earned interest on that money by investing it, or placing it in a savings account.  Perhaps more importantly, you could have used it to pay down your own debts.  If you get a $1000 refund from the IRS, that’s a thousand dollars you could have knocked off your credit card balances this year.  What interest rate did you pay Visa or Discover on that thousand bucks?

You’re also paying for government every time you fill your gas tank.  As you may have noticed, that costs a lot of money these days.  Much of this goes to the government, in the form of gas taxes.  The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.  States add an average of 20.6 cents to that total.  More significantly, the high cost of gas is a direct result of deliberate Obama policies, including a refusal to allow the exploration of American oil resources. 

You are funding this exercise in environmentalist ideology, and you pay for even more of it through EPA regulations that increase the cost of energy generation.  The EPA has been working to quietly enforce the “cap and trade” concept – defeated by the representatives of American voters in the Congress.  It already imposes fantastically expensive “climate change” ideology on Americans, many of whom correctly see “climate change” as an international fraud.  Regardless of your income level, you pay for all that.

These energy policies contribute to the rising cost of almost all goods, as do high corporate tax rates.  Corporations do not pay taxes.  They pass them along to their customers.  You’ll have a hard time finding an example of an industry whose profit margins were reduced in equal proportion to rising taxes and regulatory costs.  They correctly, and ethically, view rising taxes as an increase in the cost of goods, and recover most of that cost through rising prices or diminished quality.

You pay for government through the cost of opportunities it forecloses, and jobs it eliminates.  Obviously the vast ranks of the unemployed are paying most directly.  True, they receive unemployment benefits – which cost the rest of us a fortune to fund, as the government keeps expanding them – but these benefits are a fraction of what they could be earning in their chosen professions.  Further, the people who are still employed suffer from lost advancement opportunities.  When your company hires people, your chances for promotion are increased.  The reverse is equally true when staff is downsized.

And, of course, don’t forget about all the money government is sucking out of your paycheck, before you ever receive it.  The entire point of the exercise is to prevent you from noticing the extraction of these funds.  You’re pouring a lot of your regular paycheck into a Social Security fund that absolutely will not be there when you retire – President Obama and the Democrat Party work tirelessly to thwart any real attempt to save it.  That money is not being put into some kind of “lockbox.”  The government spends it immediately. 

Rest assured though, we are all paying for government.  Few of us will ever really know exactly how much we paid.  As the size of government increases, and the Termite State burrows into every inch of our economy, its true cost becomes harder to account for.  You don’t know exactly how much you’re paying, any more than you know exactly what Washington does with all the money. This is by design.

I find this interesting and believable. It is impossible to keep giving away money in any form no matter what you call it, welfare, entitlement, public aid, foreign aid or whatever, without running out of money. The money we give away or waste comes from somewhere. It comes from the rich. Since there are more poor than rich, the rich have to pay a disproportionate share. That’s the way it is.

Just a couple of thoughts I had.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

http://www.brucebrennanlaw.com/

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"It is difficult to give children a sense of security unless you have it yourself. If you have it, they catch it from you." - William C. Menninger

Too bad Booth wasn't sleeping on the job!

April 15, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 15 is … Rubber Eraser Day

Arnold made the movie, didn’t he?

Abraham Lincoln died on this date in 1865 at about 7:22 a. m. at the age of 56. He had been shot in the head the evening of April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth while he watched the play, “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC. Lincoln was shot just after 10:15 p. m. as he watched the actor Harry Hawk play the lead role of ‘the cousin’ named Asa Trenchard.

The name of Asa is uncommon but it was used in The Andy Griffith Show during the 1960s as the name of the bank guard, Asa Breeney, played by Charles Thompson.

I wonder how long this air traffic controllers sleeping on the job thing has been going on. The government just caught the fifth controller this year sleeping on the job. If they have caught five there is probably five hundred they did not catch. Five is also all they are reporting. I bet a rule or guideline exits that prevents the disclosure of most disciplinary action against government employees. It used to be and I doubt it is much different today, if you got a job with the federal government, you had to kill the President’s dog to get fired.

We are hearing about the budget woes from Washington DC and state capitols. Many people talk about letting go of government employees. That is a common politician’s ploy; threaten to fire police and teachers and take away government benefits. It never happens to any significant extent. Some people lose their jobs but they are usually people ready to retire. Retirements reduce the number of government employees, temporarily; politicians brag about their success and when it is no longer front page, above the fold news, these jobs are refilled, quietly.

I understand that if it is you losing the job, the per centage of impact on you and your family is 100% but in a democracy, which is what we used to have, few suffer for the many. Majority rules, remember?

This air traffic controller situation is unique. We have not had a significant commercial air plane crash resulting in death in years. I do not remember one blamed on air traffic controller error. Perhaps we do not need these air traffic controllers. The pilots do not want to die. They will look out for their own safety.

Of the five cases reported concerning sleeping air traffic controllers, nothing happened. The system worked even without the air traffic controllers. That ought to teach us something. I have read and heard Ray LaHood, the Peoria, IL former Congressman who is now the Transportation Secretary say: "This is absolutely unacceptable," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "The American public trusts us to run a safe system. Safety is our No. 1 priority and I am committed to working 24/7 until these problems are corrected."

If safety is the number 1 priority, why is it we never review a situation until a catastrophe happens. What expertise does Ray LaHood have for this job. He was given a plum political job by a President from the same State. They are of different persuasions but every President puts a person from the other party into a position of importance that has little power and news coverage. What is the number that turned the situation into the number 1 priority? It was not the first episode or the second episode or the third episode or the fourth episode. Five must be the number. After five episodes, it moves up the list, overtaking the pat downs or do you say feel ups of six year olds getting on planes. If the air traffic controllers are important and they are sleeping, what is the difference if a six year old, bomb toting passenger gets on the plane. It is going to crash anyway.

The head of the air traffic controllers organizations quit on Thursday. He was never caught sleeping but we have to hang someone out to dry and it will not be LaHood.

The most recent case out of Reno, Nevada was the second case this week of a controller being suspended for sleeping on the job. A controller at Boeing Field-King County International in Seattle fell asleep during his morning shift on Monday and was suspended, FAA said. He was already facing disciplinary action for sleeping on two separate occasions during an early evening shift in January, the agency said. That means he is accused of sleeping three separate occasions while on the job. The first two sleeping episodes involving this employee are not included in the five cases the government acknowledges. That increases the number of cases to seven already.

ABC has announced it is cancelling two long running daytime soap operas. All My Children and One Life To Live have been axed from the upcoming schedule. AMC will leave the air in September of this year, 20111 and OLTL will leave the air in January of 2012. The shows will be replaced by talk, gabfest type shows similar to The View.

Susan Lucci has been with AMC since it debuted in 1970. It has been on the air ever since, for 41 years. I bet the person who made the decision to cancel the shows is not 41 years old. This is another brazen example of screw the consumer. The decisions as to which shows the networks put on the air is determined by the dollars involved. With talk shows, you do not need writers, rehearsals, stage settings, prop people or talent. You just need a bare stage and two or more people willing to make a fool of themselves after they read People magazine, a computer geek and a sound person. We sure don’t want to challenge the audience to have a memory or brain.

The replacement shows are called The Chew and The Revolution. I hope a lot of effort was not put into the naming process. Some day we will get back to originality.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

http://www.brucebrennanlaw.com/

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker." - Plutarch

Watch this 'birther' video. Did Obama get caught actually telling the truth?

April 14, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 14 is … National Pecan Day

Speaking of nuts, watch the video below. It is interesting, to say the least:

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwhKuunp8D8&feature=player_embedded

If you have not already seen it, find the Alan Simpson interview from the Hardball with Chris Matthews Show and watch it. He takes on the Republican Party, of which he is a member. He is blunt, direct and mostly right on.

Did I mention the White Sox are looking for a closer. They will trade Matt Thornton for a red dog and then kill the red dog. They cannot kill Thornton although it has been discussed. This year’s Dog Day at the Park has a whole new meaning.

From the news of Tuesday and following up on a story last week.  In Mexico, another grisly find.

Mexican authorities have uncovered four more mass graves in the northern border state of Tamaulipas, where the country's violent drug cartels have begun abducting passengers on buses in the area, including at least one U.S. citizen. The U.S. State Department issued a new warning against travel in Tamaulipas after 16 more bodies were found there over the weekend, raising the death toll in the string of abductions in the region to 88. U.S. citizens are discouraged from traveling in three Mexican states. "The United States Consulates General in Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey advise American citizens that the U.S. government has received uncorroborated information that Mexican criminal gangs may intend to attack U.S. law enforcement officers or U.S. citizens in the near future in Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and San Luis Potosi," the statement read.

Cesar Morales Uscanga, who has admitted to participating in two of the March abductions, led authorities to the shallow graves, the Mexican military said in a statement. Uscanga was arrested Friday carrying an assault rifle and $3,000 in cash. He and 13 other suspects arrested in the abductions and slayings are thought to be members of the Zetas cartel, one of the most powerful drug organizations in Mexico.

The Zetas and other cartels are in the middle of a bloody battle for control over Tamaulipas, a vast, rural region that has become a lucrative drug-running route in recent years. Some of the suspects in the bus kidnappings were arrested in military uniform, according to multiple news reports in Mexico.

Authorities are working to determine whether the bodies found in the mass graves are those of the missing bus passengers, who were kidnapped March 24 and 25 in San Fernando, a small town 90 miles south of the Texas border. In August, 72 bodies, most of them identified as migrants from Central American countries, were found in mass graves near the town. The gruesome discovery is only the latest in a five-year war on the nation's brutal cartels that has left an estimated 30,000 people dead.

The Japanese government has finally acknowledged what everyone else in the world already knew or at least strongly suspected. The nuclear disaster they are dealing with is as bad as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 in the Ukraine. That disaster resulted in the Chernobyl Dead Zone. Usually, when they talk about the dead zone, they talk about area that is 30 kms around reactor.

What about this towns and villages? They are 60 kms from reactor.

The Wolves Land is bigger than many think and it keeps on growing. Now days, it spread on 300 kms from South to North and on 100 kms from East on West. There are more than 2,000 dead towns and villages within a radius of 250 kms (155 miles) around Chernobyl reactor. Each year I travel, I see more and more ruined places. This barbed wire marks the limit of the '30km' zone, but according to the site it's over 50km from the reactor. The Chernobyl accident happened in late April. The towns were evacuated on April 27th, four days before the Mayday celebrations. No one has ever returned.

If a similar Dead Zone is established in Japan, it could be extended to include Tokyo, although Tokyo is nearly 150 miles to the southwest. Tokyo has a population of between 13 million and 39 million people, depending on which definition of Tokyo you use. Still, it is the home for over twenty million people that may need to be evacuated. Where do you house twenty million people who two months ago were living a comfortable lifestyle in modern housing?

What a night this was back in 1969! All the egos and glamour of Hollywood were gathered together in one place for the annual Academy Awards presentation. All in the theatre and those watching the extravaganza on television could feel the electricity in the air as the envelope, announcing the Best Actress Award, was opened. It was the 11th nomination for Katharine Hepburn, an academy record! And, the Oscar goes to ... For the first time in the history of the Academy Awards, a tie resulted in two stars sharing the Best Actress Oscar. Barbra Streisand for her performance in Funny Girl had reached the top, only to share the honor with the ‘First Lady of the American Screen’, Katharine Hepburn for her starring role in The Lion in Winter.

Hepburn also broke the record that night as the only actress to win three Best Actress Oscars. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner awarded the previous year and Morning Glory [1932-33] were the other films. She was also only the third person to win two years in a row. Hepburn added a twelfth nomination and a fourth Oscar in 1981 for her performance in On Golden Pond with co-star Henry Fonda. She earned three of these awards after her sixtieth birthday.

There’s an old saying that goes something like this, “He who laughs last, laughs best.” Not all of Katharine Hepburn’s peers were admirers. After completing her first film (A Bill of Divorcement) in 1932, she told her lecherous, co-star John Barrymore that she would never act with him again. His reply, “Really, my dear? I didn’t know you ever had.” Hepburn, who had made her stage debut on Broadway in 1928, was reviewed by columnist Dorothy Parker for a 1933 performance as “running the gamut of emotions from A to B.” And, in 1938 she was labeled “box-office poison.” Obviously Hepburn has had the last laugh. Her most memorable performances include Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story opposite Cary Grant; Woman of the Year, Adam’s Rib, Pat and Mike with co-star and significant other, Spencer Tracy; The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Suddenly Last Summer opposite Montgomery Clift. Long Day’s Journey into Night earned her a 1962 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award.

From Broadway to Hollywood to television ... 1975 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in her ABC Theatre performance, opposite Laurence Olivier, in Love Among the Ruins ... to literature ... two best-sellers, The Making of "The African Queen" or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind and her autobiography, Me, Katharine Hepburn remains a star, the idol of independent, talented young women in their search for fame and fortune.

From the book and web site, You Ruined It For Everyone (RIFE);

                        http://youruinedit.com/blog/

THE US MINT: THE FACTS

If a penny saved is a penny earned, then a penny made is a taxpayer played! Allow me to elaborate . . . actually, let’s let the United States Mint director’s cost analysis explain:

• Cost to mint a penny: 1.26 cents

• Cost to mint a nickel: 7.7 cents

• Cost to mint a dollar coin: 16 cents

• Cost to make a dollar bill: 4.2 cents

[you] RIFE!

In case you need it spelled out for you: It costs MORE to mint the penny and the nickel than the coins’ actual worth. And, if you forgot fourth-grade American history, your taxes pay for minting. Does this upset you? Well, now you finally have a good reason to smash that piggy bank!

That stupid annoying little penny . . . it and everything below the quarter need to go away. Let’s start dissolving as many as we can in bottles of Coke. And besides, except for buying a hotdog at the ball game, who the hell uses cash anymore? The U.S. Mint says 33 percent of all transactions use cash. That seems a bit high. The mint must be including all of Washington’s untraceable private escort transactions in its statistics.

Anyway, if you haven’t already, start lobbying your congressman and the March of Dimes. And be sure to max out your credit as often as possible to deter coin usage. I am sure we will experience some resistance with the bleeding hearts and conservatives. But don’t worry—just tell them we can still use coins for circuit breakers and weddings, instead of throwing rice. Rice does kill birds, you know. And the next time you see Obama, tell him to fight for NO CHANGE!

A side note: Someone please tell the $1 bill to wipe that smirk of its face, because it only has a life expectancy of twenty-one months. So it can go away too. In fact, if it were replaced with the $1 coin, taxpayers would save over $500 million per year since coins last at least thirty years!

I wonder how long it takes a dollar to dissolve in Coca-Cola?

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

COPYRIGHT 2011

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Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

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Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly." - Franz Kafka